HOMOSASSA, FL. State inspectors ordered Manatee Pub at 10175 W Fishbowl Drive closed on May 12 after finding rodent activity at the Citrus County bar, the third emergency closure the location has faced since late 2023.
The closure was ordered the same day it was documented, with the facility required to vacate by May 12. Records show the pub was allowed to reopen later that afternoon, at 3:45 p.m.
What Inspectors Found
Manatee Pub: Emergency Closure History
The rodent activity finding was the sole grounds for the emergency order. Alongside the closure-triggering violation, inspectors documented three intermediate violations during the May 12 visit: inadequate cooling and cold holding equipment, single-use items being improperly reused, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
A second inspection was conducted the same day, with the same three intermediate violations noted, before the facility was cleared to reopen.
What These Violations Mean
Rodent activity is one of a narrow category of findings that Florida inspectors treat as grounds for immediate closure, and the reasoning is direct. Rodents move through a kitchen without restriction, contaminating food surfaces, utensils, and stored ingredients with droppings, urine, and fur. Unlike a temperature reading or a missing label, there is no quick corrective action that makes the food already in the kitchen safe. Everything the rodents may have contacted is a potential exposure point.
The intermediate violations documented alongside the closure add context. Inadequate cold holding equipment means the bar lacked the mechanical capacity to keep food at required temperatures, creating conditions where bacterial growth accelerates. When cooling equipment fails, food can spend hours in the range where pathogens multiply fastest, and a customer has no way of knowing that from a plate.
Reusing single-use items, the second intermediate violation, introduces a separate contamination pathway. Gloves, foil, and disposable containers are designed for one use because repeated contact with food and surfaces degrades any barrier they provide. A reused glove that has touched raw protein and is then used again is not functionally different from no glove.
Inadequate ventilation allows grease-laden vapors and smoke to accumulate in kitchen spaces, creating both air quality concerns and surfaces that are harder to keep clean. Grease buildup on walls and equipment is a secondary habitat for the same pests that triggered this closure.
The Violations in Context
The May 12 closure was not the first time Manatee Pub was shut down for pests. On October 30, 2023, inspectors ordered the same location closed after documenting both roach and rodent activity. The pub was allowed to reopen the following day, October 31, but the follow-up inspection that cleared it still found one high-severity violation and three intermediate violations on record.
That 2023 closure and the one issued May 12 share the same core finding: rodents in a licensed food service facility.
The Longer Record
Manatee Pub has 19 inspections on record and has accumulated 105 total violations across that history. That works out to an average of more than five violations per inspection visit, though the distribution is uneven.
The pub's recent inspection record shows a facility that has cycled between cleaner visits and significant findings. The June 2024 and May 2024 inspections produced zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. The July 2024 visit was also clean. Then December 2024 brought two high-severity violations, though no emergency closure followed.
The two emergency closures at this address, in October 2023 and again in May 2026, are both tied to pest activity. That is not a coincidence in the record, it is a pattern. A facility closed for roaches and rodents in 2023, cleared to reopen, and then closed again for rodents less than three years later has not resolved the underlying conditions that allow pests to establish themselves.
The 105 violations across 19 inspections also mean this is not a new location accumulating early citations. It is an established facility with a documented history that now includes three emergency shutdown orders.
The pub reopened the afternoon of May 12. Whether the conditions that produced the rodent finding have been addressed is not reflected in the inspection record available at the time of publication.